EPILOGUE

 

Two weeks later and it all somehow settled down.  Mick was out of the hospital and already well on the mend, and Dr. Carter and his almost-successful assassination attempt was nothing more than another terror attack they stared down.

Teddy and Nikki felt especially blessed.  As they walked along the water’s edge at the lake in the back of Teddy’s house, they felt revitalized.  They felt as if they weathered their first storm together, and they came out stronger on the other side.

“Unfortunately, Teddy said as they walked, “there will be many more storms to come.”

“I can count on it?” Nikki asked.

Teddy nodded.  “You can count on it,” he said.  “Unfortunately.”

“It’s still worth it,” Nikki said.

Teddy looked at her.  “Is it?”

“With you in the storm with me?  Oh, yeah.  Definitely!”

Teddy smiled and pulled her closer to his side.  “I really see us going places, Nikki.  Just you and me.  All the way.”

Nikki knew what he meant, but she didn’t respond.  They had some ways to go before they could talk the forever talk.  She just wanted to enjoy the here and now.

Teddy smiled.  “Don’t worry,” he said.  “I’m not trying to rush anything.  I want us to do this right, and to take it slow.  That’s really the best way.”

Nikki nodded.  “Agreed,” she said.  They continued walking until they were on the side of the house.

And that was when she saw it.  “Look, she said, pointing toward his front driveway.  “Somebody just drove up.  Were you expecting someone?”

“No,” Teddy said and pulled out his pistol and placed it at his side.

Nikki pulled out her pistol, too, and placed it at her side.

“Let’s go see who it is,” Teddy said, when he saw that she was ready.  And they headed toward the front.

It was an SUV with fully-tinted windows, but what gave it away for Teddy was the fact that it was an Escalade.  His father favored Cadillacs for his SUV transportation, and this one looked brand new.

“I think it’s Pops,” Teddy sad.

“Really?  You think he’s well enough to be out and about already?”

“After two weeks?  Heck yeah!”

They walked up to the SUV as Mick and Roz stepped out.  When they received a visual on who it was, they immediately placed their weaponry back up.

“See what I told you,” Teddy said with a proud smile.  “He doesn’t even have a cane.  That’s my old man!”

They walked up to them.

“Hello, Ma,” Teddy said to his stepmother.  “Hey, Pop.”

Mick nodded toward his son.

“Hello there,” Roz said with a smile.

“What brings you two to our humble abode?”

“Humble my ass,” Roz said, and Nikki laughed.

“Hello, Mrs. Sinatra, how are you?” Nikki asked.

“I am very well, Nikki, thank you,” Roz said, and they embraced.

“Mr. Sinatra,” Nikki said by way of greeting after she and Roz stopped embracing.

“Hello,” Mick said dryly.

“What’s up?” Teddy asked.

“Your father wanted to say something,” Roz said.

“Oh, okay.  We can go in my office if you prefer, Pop.”

“He’s not here to talk to you,’” Roz said to Teddy.  “He wants to talk to Nikki.”

Nikki and Teddy both were surprised.  To her?  What about?

“Well,” Teddy said.  “Alrighty then.”  He looked at Nikki.

“Where would you,” Nikki began asking Mick.

“We can walk down by the lake,” said Mick, and then he motioned, “after you,” and they headed back toward the water’s edge.

“After you,” Teddy said to Roz and they followed behind them.

“What’s this about?” Teddy asked her.

“I have no idea,” said Roz.

 

Mick and Nikki walked quietly along the lake for several minutes before Mick spoke.  Nikki’s heart was hammering.  It always did when she was around Teddy’s father.

He wore an expensive suit with no tie, and he had his hands in both pockets.  Although he didn’t have a limp, or any other noticeable issue, Nikki could see strain on his face.  He was still mending.

“I wanted to come over here,” Mick said, “because I owe you a debt of gratitude.”

Nikki did not expect him to say that!  “May I ask what for?” she asked.

“Where do I begin,” Mick said uncharacteristically.  “You handled business in my hospital room.  You didn’t panic.  You didn’t fumble.  You handled it with a moment’s notice.  You saved my life.”

Nikki swallowed hard.  “Well, sir, thank you, first of all, but I don’t think I saved your life.”

“Well I do,” Mick said firmly.  “And since it’s my life at issue, I think I get to call it.”

Nikki smiled.  He sat her back down!  “Yes, sir,” she said.

“But more importantly,” Mick continued, “I believe you saved my son’s life.”

Now Nikki was really confused.  “Teddy?” she asked.

“Joey, too, at the docks.  Thank you for that also.  But I’m talking about Teddy.”

“I don’t recall . . . I don’t remember saving Teddy’s life at all,” Nikki said.

“But, my dear, you have and still are,” Mick said.  He stopped walking.  Nikki stopped walking too.  The wind was whipping her hair around her round face, making her look angelic to Mick.  Teddy and Roz stopped walking too and sat on a nearby bench.

“I’ve always worried about Teddy,” Mick confessed.  “I worry about all my children.  But Teddy is different.”

Mick paused.  Nikki stared at him.  It was surreal to her to be standing in front of him, but there she was.  A barmaid one day.  Mick Sinatra personally thanking her the next.  Only in America, she thought.

“I worry about Teddy because he never understood the value of companionship.  I didn’t either, until I met Rosalind.  He would either be with women who were wholly unsatisfactory.  Bimbos, if you will.  Or he’d be by himself.  I thought he would end up, as I almost ended up, old, bitter, and alone.  Then he met you.”

Mick stared at Nikki.  She felt a lump in her throat when she saw beyond his gruff exterior, to a softness in his steely green eyes.  This man loved Teddy.  There was no doubt about it.

“He met you and had the good sense to keep you around,” Mick said.

Nikki smiled.  “Thank you,” she said.

“But I’m not going to sugar coat it.  You will have hell to pay if you associate with us.  I have enemies that have not yet been revealed.  And, it’s unfortunate and the regret of my life, but my enemies becomes my family’s enemies.  They will become yours too.”

Nikki nodded.  “Yes, sir, I know,” she said.

“Get out now while you can,” Mick said bluntly and stared hard at her, as if her response, more than his comment, would be determinative.

But Nikki, to his inward delight, smiled.  “I’m not getting out,” she said.  “I’m in.  And when I’m in, I’m in.  If your son plays his cards right, and treats me right, I’m not going anywhere.”

Mick’s heart relaxed.  And he actually smiled, which warmed Nikki’s heart.

“Welcome to our circle, Nikki,” he said, and he extended his hand.

Nikki wanted to say, I’m a hugger, and hug him, but that would have taken more courage than even she had.  She shook his hand, instead.

And when they went back to Teddy and Roz, Nikki was smiling from ear to ear.  As if she had a wonderful secret.

She sat next to Teddy.  Mick sat next to Roz.

Teddy placed his hand in Nikki’s and stared at her.  “You okay?” he asked.

Nikki let out a long, sweet exhale.  “I couldn’t be better,” she said.

And the two couples remained where they were, relaxed and satisfied, talking the small talk of people at peace, for the rest of the evening.